“Plants always teach us.”
The life stories of everything from common urban plants to the unfamiliar and unique.

The crocus, an early spring plant that blooms as soon as the snow on the ground melts, waits for seven years in the dark ground before blooming, and then blooms in early spring, ends its short two-week life cycle, and enters a long dormancy.
The holly tree, an evergreen shrub that remains green even in winter, also has its own hidden story.
The holly tree, with its green leaves that stand out in the pure white forest, has developed thorns as a tool for self-protection because it is easily spotted by herbivores.
Just like humans, plants are born, grow, protect themselves, grow old, get sick, and die.
This book contains 43 plant drawings and stories about the plants by botanical artist Song Eun-young, who spends her days looking at, observing, and drawing plants.
From the allergy at Hantaek Botanical Garden to the midsummer holly tree encountered at Cheonripo Forest, to the story of the tiger thorn tree encountered at Kew Gardens, the Royal Botanical Gardens located in southwest London.
We can also find comfort and empathy for our lives through the stories of 43 species of four-season plants that most closely resemble human life.
As you look at the detailed plant illustrations, which include basic information about the plants, their habitats, flowering periods, and flower language, along with their life stories, you will realize that it is only natural that we love plants.

The azalea, which spends seven years waiting in the dark ground before blooming, blooms in early spring, completes its short two-week life cycle, and then enters a long dormancy.
The reason why the flower language of the perennial plant, the crocus, which hibernates and blooms new flowers every spring, is 'endure even if sad' may be because it is a word written knowing the life of the crocus, which 'finally' blooms after a long seven-year wait underground and enjoys the short early spring, but endures sorrow because it can bloom every year.
--- p.29

The large-flowered sedge, which reproduces only by seed, was originally a plant native to North America, but is now a naturalized plant widely spread throughout Asia and other regions.
It has become the most common species in our country because it adapts well to a variety of habitats, from dry to humid places.
The large-leaved yam grows up to 2 m tall and produces fruit with strong thorns.
The fruit itself is poisonous, so if it becomes food for animals, it is excreted and the species never has a chance to reproduce.
That is why the strong thorns of the fruit are the great thornbush's desperate struggle to propagate its species.
--- p.58

When I looked closely at the burdock root, I saw, 'Don't just look at the skin.
I am reminded of a passage I read in the Talmud: 'Look at what is inside.'
Although it may seem useless and annoying on the surface, the wisdom it imparts to human life is incomparable to anything else.
--- p.63

The name pansy is said to have been given because the flower buds of the pansy face sideways when they emerge from the leaf axils, and they appear to be tilted slightly like a 'thinking person', resembling a person lost in thought.
This is also why one of the flower languages ​​of pansy is ‘contemplation.’
Because of the pansy's other flower language, 'think of me', in Europe, people confess their love by giving pansies as gifts on Saint Valentine's Day.
--- p.73

The fig tree, one of the oldest fruit trees in the world and even mentioned in the Bible, is said to have been planted in Egypt 4,000 years ago.
If you look at the engraving “Adam and Eve” by Albrecht Durer, a great 16th-century German Renaissance painter, you can see Adam and Eve from the Old Testament covering themselves with fig leaves in shame after eating the forbidden fruit. You can feel the intricate shape of the realistic fig leaves.
--- p.118

The flowers of the Licorice bird-of-paradise, native to South Africa, are more than twice as large as the commonly known bird-of-paradise flowers.
It is 45 cm long and 18 cm high and resembles the birds of paradise, the national bird of Papua New Guinea.
Known as the most beautiful bird in the world, the bird of paradise is famous for the long, elaborate plumage of the male, which is very showy and beautiful.
The shape and color of the feathers of the bird of paradise spread out vigorously during courtship are very similar to those of the bird of paradise flower, so the bird of paradise flower is called the giant white bird of paradise flower, using the same name as the bird of paradise, and comparing it to the unique color and size of the licorice bird of paradise flower.

--- p.164